


The rest of my body's gonna need advice

by sarahcakes613



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Injury Recovery, M/M, Reality TV, not sponsored by Gatorade
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-13 10:34:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29277030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarahcakes613/pseuds/sarahcakes613
Summary: Mike is recovering from an injury and Rafael looks after him.
Relationships: Rafael Barba/Mike Dodds
Comments: 6
Kudos: 16
Collections: MIKE DODDS!!





	The rest of my body's gonna need advice

**Author's Note:**

> The genesis of this was actually a Barisi drabble idea I had but I am so fucking soft for Mike being friends with Barba's family that I reworked it for a MIKE DODDS bingo square.

“Sorry I took so long, they didn’t have the blue Gatorade at Tino’s and I had to go down the street to –”

Rafael stops mid-sentence as he walks into the living room and sees Mike asleep on the couch, legs stretched out the length of it. He moves more quietly now, setting the Gatorade down on the coffee table next to a bottle of extra-strength acetaminophen and a half-eaten bowl of pasta salad.

The television is on, one of those godawful reality romance programs that Mike inexplicably loves to watch. Rafael reaches for the remote to turn it off, but a hand brushes against his leg.

“Leave it,” Mike mumbles. “I’m watching that.”

Rafael turns and looks down at his boyfriend, who is speaking to him with his eyes still closed.

“Yes, I can see that,” he responds. “Clearly, it’s riveting.”

He does leave it though, and careful not to bend Mike’s legs, he lifts them and sits on the couch, setting them down again across his lap.

“So, who’s winning?” He asks, and Mike’s mouth quirks into a smile.

“Well, Saffron won this week’s solo date, but Pansy accused her of cheating, and Henry’s solution was to make it a group date with the two of them, but they spent the whole time arguing and then he decided to get rid of both of them in a surprise double elimination.”

He must be able to feel Rafael staring at him, because he blinks his eyes open and looks at him. Rafael shakes his head.

“Can I presume this means my mother will be calling soon?” He asks. Mike waves his hand floppily at the Gatorade and Rafael reaches for it, cracking it open and putting a straw in it before handing it to him.

The house phone does ring just then, and Rafael picks up the cordless from it’s charging station on the end table next to him.

“Hola, mami,” he answers without looking at the caller ID.

He listens for a moment, interjecting occasionally with acknowledgements or hums, and then finally has a chance to speak when Lucia takes a breath.

“I’m going to give the phone to Mike now, you can tell him all your theories, okay?”

He passes the phone over and Mike shifts slightly to let him tuck the phone next to his ear without having to keep his arm up. Rafael lowers the volume on the television as Mike talks to Lucia, discussing the ins and outs of this week’s episode of Love Hunters.

Eventually even Mike’s indefatigable nature flags under the double weight of Lucia’s ability to talk and his painkillers wearing off, and when he starts grimacing, Rafael calls it. He takes the phone back and speaks to his mother while pouring out Mike’s next dose of painkillers into his hand.

“How is he, Rafi? Really?” Lucia asks him softly.

Rafael hands the pills to Mike and watches carefully as he leans up just enough to swallow them safely before drifting back down. He runs his hand up and down Mike’s legs, massaging them.

“He’s okay, mami,” Rafael reassures her. “Only a few more days of the antibiotics and then the doctor said he’ll probably be able to start on physio.”

Lucia tsks in his ear. “Foolish boy, running after people like that.”

“It’s his job,” he reminds her, although he silently agrees.

When he hangs up, Mike is drifting in the haze of the not-quite-sleeping, and he stirs when Rafael’s hands stop moving.

“Mm, don’ stop?” He asks. “Feels nice.”

Rafael keeps going, his hands working up and down Mike’s calves and onto his feet. He is careful to avoid the bandaged area below his knee where a lucky strike from a punk with a knife had nearly sliced the tendons.

Another glance down and he can see that Mike is asleep, properly asleep this time, his breathing deep and steady.

“She’s right, you know,” Rafael murmurs, even though he know Mike can’t hear him – or maybe he says it _because_ he knows Mike can’t hear him. “You don’t need to be the hero every time. Let the kids run headfirst into danger next time. That’s what your squad is there for.”

He doesn’t have to hear Mike’s response to know what it would be. “I can’t ask ‘em to do anything I wouldn’t do myself, you know that.”

“Yeah, I know,” Rafael laughs at the one-sided debate he’s having. Even in his sleep, Mike is too damn noble.

He slowly slides out from under his sleeping boyfriend and puts the rest of the groceries away. He’ll heat up some soup when Mike next wakes up, and then if he feels up to it, maybe together they can hobble him back into the bedroom for the rest of the night. Mike’s been sleeping on the couch for the past three days because it’s an easier height for him if he needs to get up, but as a result neither of them has been sleeping well.

A whimper brings him rushing back to the living room, but it’s just Mike shifting in his sleep. Rafael slips another pillow under his hip and he settles back.

Rafael sits in the armchair set at an angle from the couch, close enough that he can reach out and stroke Mike’s hair, and picks up the book he’d set down when Mike had first plaintively requested a specific flavour of Gatorade.

He’ll sit and read and occasionally look over to remind himself that Mike is okay. It’s not the most exciting evening, but it’s exactly where he wants to be.


End file.
